Bornstein convinced the mayor, councilmembers, the Palm Beach County commissioner and local schoolkids to pay between $4.00 and $17.00 to mail coconuts to Washington. (Yes, you can mail a raw coconut in the mail.)

“We’re going to go back to the schools and talk to the kids who did the coconuts and complete the circle about the history and the activism and that their coconuts were going up to Washington," Bornstein said.

The latest list shows that 241 sites remain under consideration, down from 371 a month ago.

Among the states that were particularly adept at dodging the budget ax in this update were Ohio, New York and Michigan -- who collectively accounted for nearly a quarter of the sites on the October list.

Ohio now has 26 facilities being considered for closure, down from 44 last month. New York has 11 on the list, down from 26, and Michigan has eight, down from 24.

Idaho had three locations on the October list and Hawaii had two, but both states have been struck from the current closure list.